Dilly Scallops #Recipe + #Giveaway from guest @MaddieDayAuthor

Agatha- and Macavity-nominated Edith Maxwell writes the Quaker Midwife Mysteries, the Local Foods Mysteries, and award-winning short crime fiction. As Maddie Day, she writes the Country Store Mysteries and the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries. Edith lives north of Boston with her beau and two elderly cats, and gardens and cooks when she isn’t wasting time on Facebook.

 

Take it away, Edith! 
 
*

Thanks for having me back on Mystery Lovers’ kitchen! I’m delighted to have a new series debuting with Murder on Cape Cod set in a fictional town on scenic coastal Cape in the southeast corner of Massachusetts. It’s been so fun to invent bike shop owner Mackenzie Almeida, her world, and the cast of regular characters, which includes her parents, brother, and little niece, plus many of the shopkeepers and the head librarian in Westham.

Mac is a neat freak bordering on obsessive, but hey, she lives in a tiny house (with her African gray parrot Belle) and she repairs bicycles, which have lots of tiny parts to keep track of.  She doesn’t cook to speak of, but her hunky baker boyfriend Tim sure does. He whips up these tasty easy scallops in a few minutes after they return home from rescuing Mac’s brother from a nasty actual fall as well as a fall off the wagon. Enjoy!

Tim's Seared Scallops

Ingredients

1 pound large sea scallops

Salt and pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 clove garlic, pressed

Juice of half a lemon

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 Tbsp. fresh dill, minced (I somehow arrived home from the market without the fresh dill, so I took these pictures with a sprig of fresh rosemary, but ended up using dried dill in the dish)

Directions

Pat scallops dry with paper towels. Season one side with salt and pepper.

Heat oil and butter in wide skillet on medium-high heat until butter foams. Lay scallops seasoned-side down in skillet and let sear without touching for two minutes. Turn and add the garlic. Cook another minute and a half. Sprinkle with lemon juice and remove to a warm platter. Add wine and de-glaze the pan until the sauce thickens. Spoon over scallops with a sprinkle of dill. Serve on a bed of buttered pasta, over rice, or next to buttered, herbed potatoes. 

What's the book about?

Summer is busy season for Mackenzie “Mac” Almeida’s bicycle shop, nestled in the seaside hamlet of Westham, Massachusetts. She’s expecting an influx of tourists at Mac’s Bikes; instead she discovers the body of Jake Lacey, and her brother soon becomes a suspect. Mac’s only experience with murder investigations is limited to the cozy mysteries she reads with her local book group, the Cozy Capers. To clear her brother’s name, Mac has to summon help from her book group co-investigators. For a small town, Westham is teeming with possible killers, and this is one mystery where Mac is hoping for anything but a surprise ending.

 GIVEAWAY

The book releases December 18 in a paperback exclusive from Barnes and Noble. It will re-release a year later in all formats on all platforms. This is an experimental deal between Barnes and Noble and Kensington and none of us is quite sure how it will fly. In the meantime, I’d love to give away a signed copy to one commenter here today. Tell me do you like to ride a bike, or what's your favorite thing to do on vacation?  Leave your email so I can contact you if you win. (Click on the COMMENT button below).

You can find Edith/Maddie at the Wicked Authors, on Killer Characters and her web site, and on social media: 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MaddieDayAuthor/. twitter: @MaddieDayAuthor, and Instagram: MaddieDayAuthor